Institutional violence and human rights in Chiapas

Abstract

This article analyzes some roots of political violence and social conflict in Chiapas through a study of human rights violations in the agrarian, political and religious spheres. From a historical perspective, the author suggests some structural causes of the clashes generated by land tenure problems, by peasant organizations’ attempts to escape the corporatist ties of the State, and by the growing complexity of cultural and religious identities. She also examines the characteristics of the authoritarian political system in the fragile conjuncture of political transition and the emergence of the EZLN.